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CLAIM-061: Renderings that keep the proposition can perform a different communicative act, so preserving the proposition is not sufficient for preserving the communicative event

4 min read

Properties15
StatusActive
Version3
Rolethesis
Warrantinterpretive
Tagsphilosophy-of-language, linguistics
Linepragmatic-transport
Workswhat-survives-translation
GroundsCASE-027 — Henley translated perfectly in the voice of an academic sociologist, CASE-018 — "You blow it all on sex and booze", said by a friend, a parent, a judge, a comedian, CASE-056 — J. B. Phillips's "hearty handshake all round" for Paul's "holy kiss", and Nida's judgement that it keeps the greeting
SupportsCLAIM-115 — What survives translation is the set of communicative distinctions and relations a receiving system can still reconstruct and act upon, not the wording or the proposition, CLAIM-129 — A factorization recovers only the structure visible in the relations it is fitted to, so a topic can survive a transformation that changes the communicative act, and a kind must be tested against probe families chosen for their bearing on the act, CLAIM-151 — Which communicative act an utterance performs is partly constituted by its relations to participant roles, norms and expected uptake, so a transformation that changes those relations can change the act and not only its realization, CLAIM-220 — For a named population of receivers and a stated family of tasks, what survives a translation, retelling or rendering is the set of task-relevant communicative distinctions those receivers can still recover from it, and measured preservation of the pragmatic observables predicts that recovery better than preservation of the wording or of the proposition, with or without its force
Objected byCLAIM-053 — The manuscript argues only that preserving the proposition is insufficient; that it is also unnecessary rests on an argument the exchange gave and the manuscript leaves out, CLAIM-227 — No validated measure of footing or stance exists in the record, and the one repeated assignment of footing, the analyst's own, changed between passes, CLAIM-229 — The footing, compensation and constitution theses ground on invented cases whose readings the assistant assigned, and the case filed for the proposition's non-necessity holds the words fixed, so it shows only insufficiency
SupersedesCLAIM-006 — What fundamentally distinguishes variations of a translation is the frame from which it is delivered
ComplementsCLAIM-064 — A translation reconstructs not only what is said but the situation of its saying, CLAIM-091 — A translation can reach pragmatic equivalence by compensating for changed social coordinates with changed linguistic ones, so lexical infidelity can be required for pragmatic fidelity, CLAIM-054 — A translation can preserve interpretive content while failing as a social act: interpretive and performative fidelity come apart, CLAIM-084 — Lexical similarity cannot distinguish preservation of communicative footing from a change of speech-act function, so the primary outcome of a reconstruction study is pragmatic-frame retention judged blind to condition, once a measure of footing and stance has been shown reliable, CLAIM-486 — A rendering can keep the communicative act while changing the proposition, so preserving the proposition is not necessary for preserving the communicative event
Corroborated byTHEORY-162 — What an utterance does to the context it is used in is part of its meaning, and its truth conditions do not fix it: sentences with the same truth conditions can differ in what they make available to later discourse, in whether they inform or only test, and in whether they describe a state of affairs or bring one about
UsesTERM-030 — frame, as a configuration of the communicative situation
Illustrated byCASE-012 — The modernized refrains of Henley's Villon, CASE-027 — Henley translated perfectly in the voice of an academic sociologist

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The claim

Manuscript §1: “The three utterances share a loose situation model while differing in footing and illocutionary force. Preserving the proposition is therefore neither necessary nor sufficient for preserving the communicative event.”

It was first stated at A12, as an asymmetry: “the propositional content can remain largely unchanged while the speaker’s apparent relationship to that content changes completely. Conversely, you can alter many of the propositions while preserving the speaker’s attitude, social position, and communicative intention—and the result may feel more faithful.” Sufficiency fails in CASE-027; necessity fails in CASE-018, read in reverse.

A14 added why force alone will not do: “in strict Austinian terminology, illocutionary force may not capture every difference … affectionate teasing versus contemptuous judgment” can both be assertions, so footing and stance are needed too.

What it does not say

Not that the proposition is irrelevant, nor that the frame is the main variable (CLAIM-006). Austin (LIT-785) and Goffman (LIT-780) are cited for it and unread here.

Support from dynamic semantics

The “not sufficient” half now has formal support (THEORY-162):

  • Krifka (LIT-835) gives one proposition with two different updates, declaration and assertion.
  • Heim (LIT-838) gives truth-conditionally equivalent sentences that differ in what a following pronoun can pick up.
  • Veltman (LIT-818) treats “might” as a test with no propositional content.

None of the three addresses footing.

Note of 2026-10-10: the replies

Two corrections from the audit (CLAIM-229). CASE-018 is a case of the same proposition with a different act, which refutes sufficiency; “necessity fails in CASE-018, read in reverse” is mistaken, since reading it in reverse keeps the words. The necessity half has A12’s sentence and one documented candidate, CASE-031, pending a reading of LIT-766. The fictional cases in grounds are existence proofs for the sufficiency half, which is modal; they do not bear on how common the dissociation is, which CLAIM-115’s comparative test needs. The text above is unchanged.

Note of 2026-10-27: stated in the live term

The status review of this date (ADR-057) found this claim using TERM-035, which is Superseded. It now uses TERM-030: footing and the speaker’s position are components of TERM-030’s configuration c = (u, s, a, k, n, g, h), which is where the delivery frame’s who-to-whom-from-what-position went. The claim’s status is not changed by this.

Note of 2026-10-28: narrowed to sufficiency, and promoted

The status review of this date narrowed this claim and promoted it (ADR-057). Its three objections are granted claims, and under ADR-059 a conceded objection is recorded by revising its target, which version 1 had not done: the note of 2026-10-10 left the text unchanged.

  • CLAIM-229’s correction is made. CASE-018 is the same proposition with a different act, so it bears on sufficiency only. “Necessity fails in CASE-018, read in reverse”, above, is the version 1 text it corrects.
  • The necessity half moves to CLAIM-486, Proposed. The manuscript does not argue it (CLAIM-053), and its one documented case, CASE-056, meets the defender’s reply only partly: the coarser “greet one another warmly” survives.
  • Footing leaves the title (CLAIM-227): the record has no validated measure of footing, and the analyst’s own labels changed between passes. The title says “a different communicative act”, which A14’s point about force not capturing teasing against contempt still serves.

What remains is modal and has a documented case. CASE-056 records the UBS handbooks: where kissing is “exclusively an expression of amorous or erotic interest”, a literal rendering keeps the proposition and changes the act. CASE-027 and CASE-018 are existence proofs beside it. Krifka’s declaration and assertion, one proposition with two updates (THEORY-162), corroborate it, but THEORY-162 is not a claim about translation, so it is corroboration, not a ground.

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